Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Lose the Fear and Get to Work

I like the way you're moving this conversation...and you're absolutely right. If HR still isn't on board with social media it's their fault. The proverbial train has left the station.

Now onto putting social to work in business. As you mentioned, we are integrating social media into everything we do here, and it is much more than a facebook page. But before we went running off "launching a strategy" I needed to get the team on board.

A Clean SlateSo you're wondering what I would do if I could start all over again? Great question. While we've come a very long way in our understanding, and enthusiasm for the possibilities that social offers, it really wasn't about the "plan" that was most important. Looking back now the most important move involved two parts:

1 - Introducing social tools one-by-one to the team at a pace that was comfortable

2- Requiring them to use the tools

For me, having a social media strategy that no one on the front line believes in doesn't make much sense. Without the commitment of the people around me in HR, our journey into social media would never have made it to tweet #1 (let alone #12,000.)

But What About the C-SuiteWhat about them? Mike, you and I both know that using social tools is simply good HR practice. I'm not so sure there needs to be a committee that sits around for a year trying to decide if launching a social strategy in HR makes sense or not. On this one I think we need to ask for forgiveness, not permission.

So starting over for me would be making sure the Marketing team and Human Resources team were all on the same page.

Yes and yes Jay - the interplay between HR and Marketing is somewhat new and Social is a key part of that. And totally agree on your last comment, as I still have met Marketing types not in the game (scary as that is...). Lead and ask for forgiveness later, also my mantra!